गुरुवार, 30 अक्तूबर 2014

Crime in India

प्रस्तुति-- अरुणा यादव, प्रियंका गोयल

dei, 282005

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crime in India exists in various forms.The statistics of every crime in the country are separately recorded
and collected, making it easier determine the crime rate. Reports have
noted that some of the crimes have shown sharp decline.

Crime over time

A report published by the National Crime Records Bureau
compared the crime rates of 1953 and 2006. The report noted that
burglary declined over a period of 53 years by 79.84% (from 147,379, a
rate of 39.3/100,000 in 1953 to 91,666, a rate of 7.9/100,000 in 2006),
murder has increased by 7.39% (from 9,803, a rate of 2.61 in 1953 to
32,481, a rate of 2.81/100,000 in 2006).[2]Kidnapping
has increased by 47.80% (from 5,261, a rate of 1.40/100,000 in 1953 to
23,991, a rate of 2.07/100,000 in 2006), robbery has declined by 28.85%
(from 8,407, rate of 2.24/100,000 in 1953 to 18,456, rate of 18,456 in
2006) and riots have declined by 10.58% (from 20,529, a rate of 5.47/100,000 in 1953 to 56,641, a rate of 4.90/100,000 in 2006).[2]In 2006, 5,102,460 cognisable crimes were committed including 1,878,293 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 3,224,167 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes, with an increase of 1.5% over 2005 (50,26,337).[3] IPC crime rate in 2006 was 167.7 compared to 165.3 in 2005 showing an increase of 1.5% in 2006 over 2005.[3] SLL crime rate in 2006 was 287.9 compared to 290.5 in 2005 showing a decline of 0.9% in 2006 over 2005.[3]

Crime by locale

Location has a significant impact on crime in India. In 2012, Kerala reported the highest cognizable crime rate of 455.8 among States of India,[4][5][6] while Nagaland recorded lowest rates (47.7). The rates were calculated by National Crime Records Bureau as the number of incidents per 1,00,000 of the population.In 2006, the highest crime rate was reported in Puducherry (447.7%) for crimes under Indian Penal Code which is 2.7 times the national crime rate of 167.7%.[3]Kerala reported the highest crime rate at 312.5% among states.[3]Kolkata (71.0%) and Madurai (206.2%) were the only two mega cities which reported less crime rate than their domain states West Bengal (79.0%) and Tamil Nadu (227.6%).[3]Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore have accounted for 16.2%, 9.5% and 8.1% respectively of the total IPC crimes reported from 35 mega cities.[3]Indore reported the highest crime rate (769.1%) among the mega cities in India followed by Bhopal (719.5%) and Jaipur (597.1%).[3]Jammu and Kashmir (33.7%), Manipur (33.0%), Assam (30.4%) and Daman and Diu and Puducherry (29.4%) reported higher violent crime rate compared to 18.4% at national level.[3]Uttar Pradesh
reported the highest incidence of violent crimes accounting for 12.1%
of total violent crimes in India (24,851 out of 2,05,656) followed by Bihar with 11.8% (24,271 out of 2,05,6556).[3] Among 35 mega cities, Delhi reported 31.2% (533 out of 1,706) of total rape cases.[3]Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest number of rape cases (2,900) accounting for 15.0% of total such cases reported in the country.[3]
Uttar Pradesh reported 10% (5,480 out of 32,481) of total murder cases
in the country and 18.4% (4,997 out of 27,230) total attempt to murder
cases.[3]Murder Rate by State in India, per 100,000 persons

Crimes against women

Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India.
The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate
of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate
by 2010.[10]
Earlier, many cases were not registered with the police due to the
social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. Official
statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of
reported crimes against women.[10]

Rape

Rape in India has been described by Radha Kumar as one of India's most common crimes against women.[11] Official sources show that rape cases in India has doubled between 1990 and 2008[12] In most of the Rape cases, the culprit is known to the victim.According to National Crime Records Bureau data of 2012,[13]Gujarat has the lowest rape rate (0.8) while Mizoram had the highest rape rate with a value of 10.1. the National Average was at 2.1. The rates were calculated by National Crime Records Bureau as the number of incidents per 100,000 of the population

Dowry

Main articles: Dowry and Dowry law in IndiaIn 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act,[14]
making the dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However, many
cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides and murders have
been reported. In the 1980s, numerous such cases were reported.
Although, recent reports show that the number of these crimes have
reduced drastically.[15] In 1985, the Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the bride and bridegroom) rules were framed.[16]

Female infanticides and sex selective abortions

India has a highly masculine sex ratio, the chief reason being that many women die before reaching adulthood.[10] Tribal societies in India have a less masculine sex ratio than all other caste groups. This, in spite of the fact that tribal communities have far lower levels of income, literacy and health facilities.[10]
It is therefore suggested by many experts, that the highly masculine
sex ratio in India can be attributed to female infanticides and
sex-selective abortions.All medical tests that can be used to determine the sex of the child
have been banned in India, due to incidents of these tests being used to
get rid of female children before birth. Female infanticide (killing of
girl infants) is still prevalent in some rural areas.[10] The abuse of the dowry tradition has been one of the main reasons for sex-selective abortions and female infanticides in India.

Domestic violence

The incidents of domestive violence are higher among the lower
Socio-Economic Classes (SECs). There are various instances of an
inebriated husband beating up the wife often leading to severe injuries.
Domestic violence is also seen in the form of physical abuse. The
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 came into force on
26 October 2006. THE DOSME SDC

Illegal drug trade

India is located between two major illicit opium producing centres in Asia – the Golden Crescent comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran and the Golden Triangle comprising Burma, Thailand and Laos.[17] Because of such geographical location, India experiences large amount of drug trafficking through the borders.[18] India is the world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade.[19] But an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets.[19]India is a transshipment point for heroin from Southwest Asian countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan and from Southeast Asian countries like Burma, Laos, and Thailand.[20] Heroin is smuggled from Pakistan and Burma, with some quantities transshipped through Nepal.[20] Most heroin shipped from India are destined for Europe.[20] There have been reports of heroin smuggled from Mumbai to Nigeria for further export.[20]In Maharashtra, Mumbai is an important centre for distribution of drug.[21] The most commonly used drug in Mumbai is Indian heroin (called desi mal by the local population).[21] Both public transportation (road and rail transportation) and private transportation are used for this drug trade.[21]Drug trafficking affects the country in many ways.

Drug abuse:
Cultivation of illicit narcotic substances and drug trafficking affects
the health of the individuals and destroy the economic structure of the
family and society.[22]

Poaching and wildlife trafficking

Illegal wildlife trade in India has increased.[32] According to a report published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in 2004, India is the chief target for the traders of wildlife skin.[33] Between 1994 and 2003, there have been 784 cases where the skins of tiger, leopard or otter have been seized.[33]Leopards, rhinoceros, reptiles,
birds, insects, rare species of plants are being smuggled into the
countries in Southeast Asia and the People's Republic of China.[32] Between 1994 and 2003, poaching and seizure of 698 otters have been documented in India.[33]Kathmandu is a key staging point for illegal skins smuggled from India bound for Tibet and PRC.[33] The report by EIA noted there has been a lack of cross-border cooperation between India, Nepal
and the People's Republic of China to coordinate enforcement operations
and lack of political will to treat wildlife crime effectively.[33] The poaching of the elephants is a significant problem in Southern India[34] and in the North-Eastern states of Nagaland and Mizoram.[35] The majority of tiger poaching happen in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.[36] Following is a comparison of reported cases of tiger and leopard poaching from 1998 to 2003:

Samir Sinha, head of TRAFFIC India, the wildlife trade monitoring arm of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), told Reuters
in an interview "The situation regarding the illegal trade in wildlife
parts in India is very grim. It is a vast, a varied trade ranging from
smuggling of rare medicinal plants to butterflies to peafowl to tigers
and it is difficult to predict how big it is, but the threats and
dimensions suggest that the trade is increasing".[32]Project Tiger, a wildlife conservation project, was initiated in 1972 and was launched by Indira Gandhi on 1 April 1973.[38] With 23 tiger reserves, Project Tiger claimed to have succeeded.[38]
But according to critics like conservationist Billy Arjan Singh,
temporary increases in tiger population were caused by immigration due
to destruction of habitat in Nepal, not because of the widely acclaimed
success of wildlife policy in India.[38]

Cyber crime

The Information Technology Act 2000 was passed by the Parliament of India in May 2000, aiming to curb cyber crimes and provide a legal framework for e-commerce transactions.[39] However Pavan Duggal, lawyer of Supreme Court of India
and cyber law expert, viewed "The IT Act, 2000, is primarily meant to
be a legislation to promote e-commerce. It is not very effective in
dealing with several emerging cyber crimes like cyber harassment, defamation,
stalking and so on". Although cyber crime cells have been set up in
major cities, Duggal noted the problem is that most cases remain
unreported due to a lack of awareness.[40]In 2001, India and United States had set up an India-US cyber security forum as part of a counter-terrorism dialogue.[41]

Corruption and police misconduct

Corruption is widespread in India. It is prevalent within every section and every level of the society.[42] Corruption has taken the role of a pervasive aspect of Indian politics.[43] In India, corruption takes the form of bribes, evasion of tax and exchange controls, embezzlement, etc.Despite state prohibitions against torture and custodial misconduct by the police, torture is widespread in police custody, which is a major reason behind deaths in custody.[44][45] The police often torture innocent people until a 'confession' is obtained to save influential and wealthy offenders.[46] G.P. Joshi, the programme coordinator of the Indian branch of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi comments that the main issue at hand concerning police violence is a lack of accountability of the police.[47]In 2006, the Supreme Court of India in a judgment in the Prakash Singh vs. Union of India
case, ordered central and state governments with seven directives to
begin the process of police reform. The main objectives of this set of
directives was twofold, providing tenure to and streamlining the
appointment/transfer processes of policemen, and increasing the
accountability of the police.[48]In 2006, seven policemen were charge sheeted and eleven were convicted[3] for custodial misconduct. Jan Lokpal Bill is being planned to reduce the corruption.[49]

Other crimes

Petty crime

Petty crime, like pickpocketing,
theft of valuables from luggage on trains and buses have been reported.
Travelers who are not in groups become easy victims of pickpockets and
purse snatchers. Purse snatchers work in crowded areas.[50]

Confidence tricks

Many scams are perpetrated against foreign travellers, especially in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.[51]
Scammers usually target younger foreign tourists and suggest to them
that money can be made by privately transporting gems or gold, or by
taking delivery abroad of expensive carpets, avoiding customs duties.[51]Such incidents occupy the traveller for several days. The traveller
is then passed to a new scam artist who offers to show the foreign
traveller the sights. Scam artists also offer cheap lodgings and meals
to foreign travellers so they can place him or her in the scam artist's
physical custody and thus make the foreigner vulnerable to threats and
physical coercion. In the process, the foreigner loses his passport.[51]

Taxi scam

There are also taxi scams present in India, whereby a foreign
traveller, who is not aware of the locations around Indian airports, is
taken for a ride round the whole airport and charged for full-fare taxi
ride while the terminal is only few hundred yards away.[50] Overseas Security Advisory Council in a report mentioned the process about how to avoid taxi-scam.[50]